


Grow

by marimoes



Series: Promptober 2019 [30]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Gen, Mention of Death, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 13:43:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21254315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marimoes/pseuds/marimoes
Summary: Along the door frame in Makino’s bar lies something far more precious to her than any piece of treasure.





	Grow

**Author's Note:**

> Day 30: Mark

It started, as most things do, with Luffy. 

He had insisted that Makino measure him after Shank’s told him that pirates had to be a certain height. Oddly enough, the number changed every time Luffy asked him, but still, Makino took out her pencil. She happily rubbed the lead against the wooden door frame with a wriggling Luffy underneath. 

Shanks would lean in and tsk, “Not tall enough yet”, leaving Luffy to huff until Makino gave him a glass of “Grow Fast Juice.” This worked for a while, causing Makino to run low on juice, until Shanks left without him. That day Luffy cried, bawling while begging Makino to measure him one more time as he tried to stretch his neck. 

It wasn’t enough. 

Next came Ace, unwillingly, but he caved once Makino smiled and asked. He would stand with Luffy eagerly jumping next to him, and once the mark was on the door frame, it didn’t feel so stupid. Watching himself grow could be fun, Ace thought, and as Luffy cheered it again made his chest heavy. 

It continued with just the two of them for months, going back and forth, begging to be measured. Ace was always well over a head taller than Luffy, and every time Luffy used his powers Ace would push him back down to size. Cheating wasn’t allowed on the doorframe, and hats didn’t count. 

A rule that would become very important when the boys dragged Sabo through the door. 

He would pull off his hat, holding it gently to his chest, and Makino would mark him. It was then that she had to start assigning initials to the strikes, because Ace and Sabo were now literally neck and neck. Both asking for more milk and veggies after hearing it was “the best way to grow.” 

After Sabo disappeared, Ace didn’t want to be measured anymore. It wasn’t fun, and the initial on the frame only made him quiet. He was persuaded eventually to do it again, almost a year later, and the jump between the marks were massive. 

They kept it up then. Every three months the boys would make a special trip to Makino’s to get measured and get something to eat. Luffy started to catch up fast, but didn’t quite make it before Ace set off on his own. It was telling, in a way that Makino didn’t want to voice, that Luffy wasn’t there yet. 

Luffy’s last mark before he set off on his own was almost the same as Ace’s, and Makino wondered just how tall he was now, three years after the last one made. She had seen the papers, the wanted posters and all, but something else pulled at her when she looked at the door frame. 

It felt incomplete. 

After the news of Ace’s death made it back to Foosha, the town was torn apart. Some angry that Roger’s son had been housed under their noses the whole time, while others wept for the loss. Makino was in the latter group. 

With the bar closed for the time being, she sat against the opposite side of the door frame, and let her eyes drift up. Stopping at each mark along the way, she could see them grow in front of her again. Those little boys who ran around and declared themselves so much more than they could have imagined. 

Reaching Ace’s last mark, she held a hand over her mouth looking at Luffy’s initial just below it. How she wished she could turn back the hands of time, to erase the marks that graced the wood, and start all over. To have them all beneath her hip, with eyes wide and full of adventure, begging to be recorded. 

If she could have known, would she be able to make more marks? 

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr: @noswordstyle  
Twitter: @__moes__


End file.
